


Flux

by Scrunchles



Series: Jamie and Mako Sitting in a Tree (Alternate Title: Roadrat High School AU) [2]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Boys Will Be Boys, Enemies to Friends, Foster Care, Gen, M/M, References to Drugs, Stop Fighting You Two
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-18
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2018-07-24 17:31:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 11,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7517080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scrunchles/pseuds/Scrunchles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set between First Fight and First Kiss, Flux is several short chapters that detail exactly how these two nerds even became friends, much less boyfriends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Summer was too short, wonderfully lazy and completely free of Jamie.  Mako knew that it was dickish, but after all of the stunts that Jamie had pulled and all of the fights he had gotten into at school the previous year (most of them featuring Mako), he kind of hoped that the Fosters had sent him back to wherever kids like Jamie came from.  Their real parents or an orphanage, he assumed.

 

It was terrible and cruel, but he honestly just hated the kid and didn't want to have to deal with him for another sixteen goddamned weeks.

 

Unfortunately, he was still there.  Still tall and reedy and with a grin that made Mako want to shove his fist down his throat and force him to choke on his own teeth.

 

The upside was the look that Jamie gave him when he saw him walk into the cafeteria.  Joy, followed by surprise, then sulky dismay.

 

Mako had grown an entire foot over the summer, putting him  _at_   _least_  six inches over Jamie's stupid, greasy head.

 

Jamie was surrounded by people, as usual, but he immediately unfolded himself from his place among his peers and made his gangly way over to Mako.

 

"You fuckin' serious?" Jamie asked, eyeing him up and down.  His voice had finally fucking settled down, and it had chosen to remain high and reedy.  Fuck if it didn't get on Mako's last goddamned nerve.

 

"What? Miss me?" Mako asked, scratching his stomach and trying to look like he didn't care that there were so many eyes turned towards him.  He was officially the tallest kid in school again, and he could  _feel_  the hungry looks that the coaches at the teachers' table were throwing him.

 

"Innit fuckin' fair, issit?" Jamie replied, crossing his arms.  "Can't be a big, mean sonnofabitch  _and_ over seven foot.  Ain't no fuckin' way."

 

Mako snorted and shouldered past Jamie to find a table to sit at.  He pointedly chose one away from Jamie's group of friends to try and dissuade him from following him.  He'd learned last year that it was hell and a half to dissuade Jamie from doing anything he wanted to.

 

Which was, aparently, to sit next to Mako.  His friends didn't follow.  They giggled and whispered while he saluted them like everything was just perfectly  _fine_.  It wasn't _fine_.  Mako wanted Jamie as far away from him as possible.

 

Even if his voice wasn't as shitty and he wasn't taller than Mako anymore, he just grated on every last nerve Mako had in his entire being.

 

His day, and consequently, his school year, progressively got worse.  They had two classes together.  They had free period together.  They had the same lunch period.  The only solace Mako had was that Jamie seemed to be sitting alone at lunch, which was what he wanted from the other teen.  A miserable, lonely picture for once in his goddamned life.

 

He took out his phone and snapped a photo out of spite before moving to sit at an empty table by himself.

 

Mako didn't notice anything unusual until the second week of school when he saw Jamie sitting alone in the cafeteria risers before school, his long legs brought up to his chest, his headphones in, and, for once, he didn't have people around him, he wasn't grinning or talking or teasing, he was just sitting still, listening to music.  Alone.

 

Mako snapped another picture, figuring he could name the album, "Loneliest Piece of Shit," and browse through it when he was in detention for rearranging Jamie's face-- which... They hadn't fought yet.

 

Mako frowned and walked over to nudge Jamie with his boot.

 

Jamie looked up at him with a raised brow and Mako hauled back and punched him.

 

Jamie laughed, high pitched and trilling as they tumbled down the risers.

 

Mako ended up with too many knobby joints shoved into soft places and Jamie's eye was almost swollen shut from the sucker punch Mako had begun with.

 

Mako rubbed his stomach and rumbled unhappily.  Jamie's elbows had  _never_  hurt so bad last year.

 

"What, did you fucking sharpen your elbows during break?" Mako asked, raising his shirt to see several dark bruises surfacing across the taut, rounded flesh.

 

"Maybe.  You replace your knuckles with brass?" Jamie asked, his fingertips playing gingerly with his swollen face.

 

"Only for you," Mako huffed, trying to match Jamie’s cheek, but, like always, it just backfired.

 

"How sweet!" Jamie giggled and it flipped every annoyed switch in Mako's head.

 

Jamie's parents got there first, or his foster mom did, anyway, and she did the thing moms did, clucking and trying to examine the bruise more closely like that would help heal the thing any faster.

 

Jamie didn't go for it.  He dodged her hands, shoved his own deep into his pockets and stalked right past and out the front door.

 

Mrs. Foster cast Mako a harried glance before sighing and following Jamie.

 

Mako huffed and settled back to wait for his dad.  

 

By the end of the week, Mako's "Lonliest Piece of Shit" album made it to ten pictures, and he was beginning to develop— _not concern_ , _never concern_ , but— an uncomfortable awareness for Jamie.  Jamie always sat alone at lunch, so he hadn't been taking pictures of that, but he _had_ been silently enjoying his nemesis's loneliness.  And noticed that he never ate anything.

 

Which was weird.  Because even if Mako was pretty hefty himself, he knew that other guys his age, and especially his height needed to eat loads to maintain energy and muscle.

 

When he started to think about it more, he realized that Jamie had indeed gotten skinnier compared to last year.


	2. Chapter 2

Jamie had definitely lost weight.  Mako remembered the stupid "I'm the BOMB" t-shirt he wore last year and it hadn't been the best fitting shirt to start with, but now it just hung off of him like he was a shitty wire coat hanger.

 

Mako was going to just pass right by him with his lunch.  He wasn't going to say anything.

 

Mako sat across from Jamie and waited for him to notice and pull out his headphones.  He waited a total of fifteen unnoticed seconds before slamming his palm on the table and jolting Jamie out of whatever music-induced trance he'd been in.  The tables around them glanced over, but dismissed it as “just another fight.”

 

"Do the Fosters not feed you or something?" Mako asked, opening his lunch box and pulling out a soda.  

 

Jamie's annoyed expression had turned into that delighted grin he got when he thought he was going to get the chance to get under Mako's skin, but the annoyance returned three-fold at Mako's question.  He rolled his eyes and put his headphones back in.

 

"Hey!" Mako slapped his hand on the table again, this time his palm stung and he wished he hadn’t. "Don't fucking ignore me, you shit," he snapped.

 

Jamie raised his eyebrows and pointed at his headphones.  "Can't hear ya, mate."

 

Mako growled and reached over to yank the buds from Jamie's ears, getting a slap and a bony knuckled punch to his inner elbow.  It hurt like a bitch and it would bruise by the end of the day.  "Why don't you ever eat lunch?"

 

Jamie snorted and reeled his headphones back up from the floor.  "Don't seem like that's any of your business, is it?"

 

Mako felt a flare of anger, even if he knew Jamie was right.

 

When Jamie put the headphones back in, Mako yanked them out again. 

 

By the time the teachers got them to seperate, they were both covered in pop and Mako had tried to smother Jamie with a piece of cake.

 

They sat in the office, Jamie picking icing from his eyebrows and Mako trying to ignore the stickiness that was happening between his shirt and his skin.  

 

"Mr. and Mrs.  _Smith_  pay for a year's worth of lunches for me.  Mr. Smith makes breakfast every morning and Mrs. Smith makes dinner every night.  They try so hard that it's fucking exhausting," Jamie said, staring at his lap as if he wasn't even talking to Mako.  "I don't eat their lunches, and I only eat the minimum of what they make me because I ain't owing anyone nothing."

 

Mako stayed silent and watched Jamie's picking move from his eyebrows to his hair, then his cuticles.  He stayed staring at his lap, and once one of his cuticles bled, he stuck it in his mouth and sucked absently on it.

 

"You... Know they're  _supposed_  to take care of you, right?  It's not about owing or anything.  They  _have_ to feed you.  Like.  They're parents.  It's what they do."  Mako furrowed his brows and wondered if the owing thing was all Jamie or if the Fosters-- the  _Smiths_ \-- weren't as nice and warm hearted as everyone said they were.

 

Jamie shrugged and Mako thought he wasn't going to speak again, but then he finished sucking on his nail and took a breath.  "I'm already taking up their space.  I don't want to owe anyone anything," he repeated, finally dragging his eyes up to meet Mako's furrowed brow.  "I ain't a burden."

 

Mako was angry.  He was angry and it  _wasn't_  at Jamie.  Not really.  " _What_?"

 

Jamie made a shrill, strained noise in his throat and waved Mako off.  "Fucking forget it.  You asked a question--"

 

"Fucking first off--" Mako stood, but the nasty look that the receptionist gave him through the glass was enough to make him sit back down again.  "Fucking  _first_   _off_ , you are a  _kid_.  You don't take up space, you're given it.  'Cause you can't make your own yet, right?" Mako waited for Jamie to show any sign of listening, and took him sucking his teeth as  _good enough_  before moving on.  "Second, what the actual fuck?  They're feeding you but you're not eating because of some stupid evenness factor?"  Mako snorted and rolled his eyes.  "You sound like an attention seeking piece of shit, Fawkes."

 

The receptionist's glare didn't have any stopping power for the lunge that Jamie made across the principal's office.  Mako's nose broke under the impact, but he just picked Jamie up and slammed him into the linoleum.  While he was still seeing stars, Mako made sure to touch up his black eye for him, then got off before the teachers came in to force them apart.

 

Jamie flipped him off as he was escorted out of the office, and Mako flipped him a double bird in return.


	3. Chapter 3

Jamie and Mako had their own private detention room because, otherwise, they would just make a spectacle of themselves for the other detainees.  The most fun Mako had ever had in detention was the first time he and Jamie had attended together and they ended up arguing whether “arse licking cum waffle” was actually insulting or just hilarious for the thirty minutes that the teacher was out of the room.  

A string of similar incidents and one fight had guaranteed them their own private detention so that they would be less likely to “show off” in front of the other kids.

Mako waited patiently for the teacher to leave before leaning over and yanking one of Jamie’s ear buds out. 

“Fuck off,” Jamie snapped.

Mako frowned and yanked it out again when Jamie returned it to his ear.  Usually it was Jamie doing something similar to him.  Annoying the crap out of him until he snapped.

When Jamie put the ear bud back in, Mako pulled it out again, but this time he didn’t yank on the cord, and, instead of letting it drop, he put it in his own ear.  Electric guitar thrummed through the ear piece and Jamie looked more confused than pissed.

“Your music taste is predictable and near non-existent,” Mako told him, scoffing and letting the bud drop between them.

“Fuck off, I like what I like,” Jamie said, his ears and neck coloring as he jammed the bud back in his ear.

“You like shit,” Mako muttered under his breath.

They sat in silence, Jamie listening to music and reading a thick book while Mako stared at the wall, cracked his knuckles, and tried to avoid thinking about what Jamie had said about not wanting to owe the Fosters–the  _Smiths_ – anything.

He eventually leaned over and pulled the earbud from Jamie’s ear again.

“Just one fucking question– why do you think you’ll owe the F– _Smiths_  if they do the normal parent shit for you?” Mako asked, too earnest for his own taste.

Jamie stared at him a moment, then just shrugged.  "Listen, mate, using money what ain’t mine just means I gotta pay it back later. Whether it’s time or actual cash, I’m not going to get expectations put on me what I’m not willing to fulfill, right? Don’t want none of that, so I work part time for my food ‘n’ clothes and do chores.“

That didn’t help Mako at all.

"But you’re a kid.  That kind of shit doesn’t apply to us.”

“Maybe not to  _you,”_  Jamie said pointedly.  "You’d take care of your mum if she got sick or work to make ends meet for the good of the family or whatever, yeah?“ 

Mako shrugged, but yeah, he would.  

"Why? 'Cause you love your parents? Took nice good care of you when you were sick or wanted a toy real bad?  Made you feel important during vacations?  That’s emotional debt, that is.  And I don’t want none of it.”

Mako scowled at Jamie, and before he could put his headphone back in, he said, “wanna come over for dinner?”

Jamie finished putting the ear bud in, then stared ahead for a minute, then took it back out and looked at Mako. “Hearing’s shit in this ear–what the  _fuck_  did you just ask me?”

“Do you want to come over for dinner?”

“You’ve got some kind of messed up bullshit–”

“It’s a fucking invitation.  No strings or emotional garbage attached, just come over and eat,” Mako offered and  _why_  was he offering for his  _arch nemesis_  to come to his house for dinner?

Jamie sulked a little longer, chewed on his lip and sucked his teeth as he thought it over.  "Not going to go soft on me, or expect me not to fuck with you, are you?“ He asked, finally looking at Mako again.

"Christ, if dinner would get you to stop giving me shit, I would fucking ask you on a date in front of the entire goddamned school, Fawkes.”  Mako huffed a sigh and crossed his arms.  Honestly, though, if Jamie did stop giving him shit and they stopped fighting, what would he even do with himself?  Learn at school?

Fuck that.

“This a date, then?” Jamie teased, grinning from ear to ear.

Mako realized that he hadn’t seen that grin in a while and for once didn’t feel the need to punch it off.  At least, not as acutely.

“Fawkes, I'll  _never_  go on a date with you.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Worth noting that Mako's mum is of Maori heritage and that they're at an American high school. -finger guns-

The teachers were staring at them as they waited together at the stop for school bus #7. When Mako's bus driver pulled up, he looked like he would rather quit his job than let Mako and Jamie onto his bus together.

 

Mako ducked his head, allowing his pale bangs to hide his face as he climbed the steps of the massive yellow bus and shouldered his way back to the very back seat.  Jamie followed him, practically buzzing with excitement.

 

"Never rode a bus before," he told Mako, grinning and flopping down into the seat across from him.  He stretched out in the seat, put his arms on the backs of his seat and the seat in front of him, mimicking Mako.  "Smiths like to give rides-- thought I was right bonkers or running away when I said I was goin' home with you today."

 

"Sounds like you hate all the attention they give you," Mako told him, resting his head back against the window and eyeing Jamie across the aisle.  How was it even possible to be so tall and thin and not just disappear?  He looked like a regular kid that had been stretched out.

 

"Yep.  Only reason this thing is gonna work out is 'cause I hate your guts," Jamie told Mako with a grin.

 

"Same here.  Me dad thinks we're friends now or trying to make good."  That made Jamie laugh. "Didn't have the heart to tell him you're a cunt and I'm just shoving me family life in your face."

 

"So there  _is_  an ulterior motive to this.  Want me to feel bad about not letting the Smiths family me, yeah?"

 

"Yep."  Mako also wanted his mum to shove so much food down Jamie's throat that he could subsist off of it for three weeks.

 

As they pulled up to the middle school to get the next round of kids, Mako felt eyes on him and Jamie.  He dropped his arms and turned to face forward, resting his forehead against the glass.  He usually got attention for being the  _cool and edgy_  high schooler while on the bus, but he tried to ignore the stares and whispers as much as he could.  Now he just felt eyes, eyes and more eyes on him and it was shitting annoying.

 

He didn't look back up until he heard a reedy voice full of bluster say, "hey, Blondie, you're in my seat."

 

It was the asshole middle school kid that always sat at the back with Mako.  He never talked to him, but sometimes Mako caught him staring at him or mimicking his posture.  He always kicked other kids out of the seat if they sat there before him, and once had been kicked off the bus for punching a kid and then kicking them until the bus driver could haul him off.

 

Honestly, he did remind Mako of himself a few years ago, and that's probably why he hated the kid so much.

 

What was his name?  Brian?  Brock?

 

"Fuck off, kid," Jamie told him, and Mako glanced over to see he was flipping him off with a manic smile.  "Go sit up front with the other kiddies.  It's safer."  His voice went up on the last word and he pouted his lips to further mock Brett.

 

Bran clenched his fists and glared at Jamie.  "I'll show you safe," he said, and Mako struck out with a log arm to catch his fist before it could swing.  Getting Jamie kicked off of his bus was  _not_  part of this whole _thing_.

 

"Fuck off, Bastian," he told him, low and threatening.

 

"M-Mako, uh... He your friend, then?" 

 

Mako and Jamie shared a look at that, and it was almost impossibly perfect how they held each other’s gaze dramatically before cracking up into a deep, booming laugh and a reedy little cackle at the exact same time.

 

"Nah, mate, hate his guts!" Jamie assured Brendan with a shit eating grin.

 

Mako let go of Ben and snorted.  "Go sit up front."  He could see the bus driver staring at them in the mirror.  He was overweight, balding and only in the mid-five foot range height wise.  He would probably have a heart attack sooner than break up a fight between two over six foot high schoolers and a barely five-eight middle schooler.

 

Brad went to sit a few seats up with a hurt look and Mako rolled his eyes before relaxing back into his seat.

 

"What, he your fan club?" Jamie asked with a raised brow.

 

"I guess."  Mako shrugged.  "Always sits back here, starts fights on the bus sometimes."

 

"Awww! Mini Mako! Wait, no, fuckin' terrifying, that is."  Jamie made a cringing face and glanced at the sullen middle schooler a few rows up.  "Well, just hope he finds as good a rival as me.  Your fighting game has really gone to the next level since we’ve been scrapping."

 

"You're  _not_  my rival, Fawkes." Mako snorted derisively.

 

Jamie pouted at Mako and scooted up to the edge of his seat, folding his long legs into the narrow aisle of the bus and placing his elbows on the edges of the seat backs to either side of Mako.  He was the very definition of _too close_. "Listen, mate, don't hurt me feelings like that.  We're like yin 'n' yang, we are!  I'm the light 'n' you're the dark--"

 

"Bit racist," Mako said, though he was just giving the kid shit.  He was surprised that Jamie had seemed to give their antagonistic relationship so much thought.

 

"Oh,  _shut up_ ," Jamie rolled his eyes and brought his arms down to cross his chest.  "Point is, nice having a bloke what can take a punch 'n' give a decent one back."

 

They pulled up to the elementary school and Jamie shoved back to drape his long legs over the seat again, his back against the window.

 

"Aw, I like fighting you too, Fawkes," Mako smirked and he didn't even notice the fifty little eyes that watched him and Jamie.

 

"Oh, fuck you, Rooty."


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the only pun warning you get.

After the incident with the middle school kid, Jamie had poked at Mako a bit to try and get a rise, but Mako wasn't having it.  It was his bus, his turf, and Jamie wasn't going to get to him.  Ultimately, Jamie gave up after ten minutes and retreated into his headphones.  The remainder of the forty-five minute ride went rather smoothly.  

 

It wasn't until they turned down the road that ended in Mako’s cul de sac that Mako finally spoke.

 

“Try to say no to me mum when she puts more food on your plate," Mako threatened Jamie suddenly.

 

Jamie made a show of removing his headphones, like he’d been expecting Mako to talk to him at some point the whole time.  "She as mean as you?" he asked with a snort.

 

"Worse," Mako told him.  "Where do you think I got me glowing personality from?"

 

"Your dad?"

 

"He's got a mean glare, but he's a peach compared to Mum."

 

Jamie laughed until the bus jerked to a stop.  He wasn't ready for it.  Mako just watched and enjoyed as Jamie made the most undignified sound Mako had ever heard from anyone when his scrawny ass slipped right off the seat and fell to the sticky floor of the bus.

 

“Careful,” Mako said, his grin able to rival Jamie’s own.  “Gravity,” he said in explanation as he just left Jamie to flounder his way back up from between the seats.

 

“Y’mean  _momentum_ , you wanker!” Jamie scowled at him and clambered to his feet.

 

Mako shrugged.  He didn't listen much in science.

 

“Oi!” Jamie yelled as Mako disembarked the bus, essentially leaving him behind.

 

Jamie loped to catch up with him, and then , once he was off the bus as well, leapt onto Mako’s back to wrap his arm around his thick neck in a sleeper hold.  

 

The bus made a hiss and then revved up to pull away.

 

Mako growled and wasted no time in reaching back to grab Jamie and try to drag him up over his head by a hold on his backpack.  He clung to Mako like a spider monkey.

 

Mako grunted and tucked his chin before just rolling forward into a somersault and pinning Jamie beneath his back in retaliation.

 

“Fucking--” Jamie made a high pitched, breathless sound like he wasn't quite sure what had happened.

 

“Let go,” Mako gasped, his fingers prying at Jamie’s arm.  

 

“Fuck you,” Jamie replied, gripping harder.

 

Mako ground backwards, angrily trying to crush the other teenager.

 

“ _Boys_.”

 

Mako felt a cold stab of fear run through him and he slapped Jamie’s arm twice in quick succession.  Tapping out hurt his pride, but honestly, being in less trouble with his mum was more important than saving face in front of someone like Jamie.  He felt Jamie’s arm release reluctantly from his neck.

 

He was probably confused.  Mako had never given any indication of giving up before, and he knew that’s how Jamie would take it.  He would count this as having defeated Mako.

 

“That’s better.”  Mako’s mum was a tall, broad woman who still held beauty in her dark skin and bold features despite the encroaching lines of middle age splaying at the edges of her eyes and the corners of her mouth.  Mako had gotten most of his facial structure from her, but his eyes were small and own skin was a mix of her and his father’s skin colors, edging lighter since he stayed inside quite a lot.  

 

“Sorry, mum,” Mako said as he heaved himself to his feet.  

 

Jamie struggled to his feet behind him, grabbing onto Mako’s backpack to haul himself up.

 

“Don't let me catch you two fighting at the house again,” she said, her tone was severe, but her expression looked mild.

 

Mako wasn't fooled.  Even if she was amused by their antics, she would still ground his ass the very second she heard a fist meet flesh.

 

“Yes, mum.”

 

“Yes, ma’am,” Jamie agreed at the same time.

 

Mako turned to look at him as if he had grown three heads and was shooting fire out of his ass.

 

Jamie raised an expectant brow at him.

 

“Mum, this is Jamie. Jamie, this is me mum.  Obviously… Uh…” Mako watched Jamie step forward and shake his mum’s hand.  What the hell was he on about? They weren't  _friends._ This was  _all wrong._   

 

Mako nodded toward the house, hoping to break the weird feeling that Jamie was a pod person and his mum was next.  “Dinner on?” He asked, unsure what he was supposed to do now.  He never had guests.  You introduced them and then… What? Shoved food in their face and let them go on their merry way?

 

“Almost,” his mum replied.  “Bags and shoes off, then go up and wash.  Should be done by the time you finish.”

 

_Up?_

 

“Mum, can't we use the down--”

 

“After I just redid the entire guest suite and bath, you want to walk your arse in there and muck it up?” Mako’s mum had her hands on her hips.  Mako grabbed Jamie’s arm and tugged him past her, up the stairs.  

 

 _Fine._ He would let Jamie use his bathroom.  Which they had to go through his room to get to.  Which was somewhere only Mako ever went and he  _didn't_   _like this._

 

He just wanted to prove a point to Jamie, not become friends with him.  Showing someone your room was what friends did, and he and Jamie definitely weren't friends.

 

Why didn't his mum understand all this already?

 

“Make any jokes and I swear I'll fuckin’ throw you out the window, Fawkes.”

 

“Aw… Fawkes again, is it? What happened to, ‘mum, this is  _Jamie_?’ “

 

“Fuck off.”

 

Mako’s bedroom was essentially the entire second floor, set in the narrow steeple of the roof, it also had an attic set above it.  As soon as they crested the stairs, Mako heard a delighted  _giggle_  escape Jamie.

 

Mako liked pigs.

 

Mako liked pigs a lot.

 

There was a corner full of assorted plushies in different sizes and colors.   The bedspread was dark green with a camo cartoon pig glaring out at the world, but it barely detracted from the cuteness of it.  A big pig plush sat on the bedspread and, if he craned his neck, there was a pig night light visible on the other side of the bed too.

 

Jamie grinned at Mako and plopped on the bed uninvited.

 

"Went hog wild huh?" he asked, pulling Mako’s stuffed pig into his lap and playing with its ears.

 

Mako narrowed his eyes at him, rage and indignation building.

 

"I've been collecting since I was a kid."

 

"Really gives whole hog a new meaning."  Jamie giggled and then set the pig down. He schooled his face and cleared his throat before saying in as serious a manner as he could likely muster.  "That'll do, pig."  He gave it a single pat and that was it.

 

That did it.

 

Mako felt the dam of anger burst and he... he laughed.

 

"Christ, finally.  Thought you were going to be a hamhock this whole time."

 

"Fucking stop it,” Mako said between huffing chuckles.

 

"Do I get a 'piggy please, stop it, Jamie'?"  The stupid asshole was lying on his bed now.  Smug smirk in place and his eyes wandering along the posters pinned to the ceiling.

 

"I'll fucking kill you, Fawkes."  Ugh, he couldn't  _breathe._

 

"Think I'm done, actually.”  Jaime waited barely a heartbeat before asking, “your mum make good slop?"

 

"Fuck you,” Mako wheezed.

 

"No, really.  Is it aces? Really worth pigging out?”

 

Mako hid his face with his hand and tried not to enjoy himself.  he really did.  "Go... Go--" he cut off with a muffled chuckle.

 

Jamie was laughing too--giggling, really, between near every word.  "... should... should I go pork myself?"

  
"Oh my  _God_.”  Mako felt his throat crack and he started coughing.  He felt his face flush harder, and he had to take several deep breaths before he could calm back down.

 

“You, uh… you okay?” Jamie asked, his face pinched with nervousness but he was still sprawled on Mako’s bed.

 

“Yeah, ‘m fine.  I hate you, by the way.  Fucking hate your guts.  Puns are the shittiest form of humor.” Mako shot him a mocking glare.

 

“Dinner’s on!” Mako’s mum called up the stairs.

 

“Coming!” Mako called back before heading for his bathroom to wash his hands.

 

Jamie followed him, folding his lean frame in behind Mako and looking surprised that the ceiling was high enough to accommodate his height.

 

“S’why they gave me the top floor.  ‘Cause I’m so tall,” Mako told Jamie, flicking water at his face before he left.

 

“Maybe they were hoping you’d lose a few pounds on the stairs,” Jamie commented.

 

Mako snorted and turned to reply when he noticed Jamie’s expression: wide eyes, his mouth drooped from his usual grin.

 

The very essence of,  _I didn’t mean to say that_.

 

Mako smirked and walked over to punch Jamie in the shoulder.  “Fat jokes are the shittiest form of insult, too. Gotta do better than that, Fawkes,” he told him, and he wasn’t telling him that he forgave him.  He  _wasn’t_.

 

Because Jamie probably didn’t feel bad, and Mako just misread the situation.

 

Regardless, Jamie was back to himself, grinning and jawing by the time they clomped down the stairs and sat at the dining table.

 


	6. Chapter 6

Maybe this was why Jamie had friends at school.  Mako felt like he was watching a pod person laugh at his dad’s stupid jokes and compliment his mum’s cooking.

He hadn't planned on Jamie’s ability to fit into whatever role the adults in the room wanted him to and then to perform it flawlessly.  He never did it at school— maybe he did it with his friends before they deserted him—and it didn’t seem like he did it at home either, but with Mako’s parents, Jamie seemed to do a 180.  It was uncanny.  Too fucking weird.  

He was all “ma’am”s and “sir”s and it was just.

Too fucking weird.

By the time his mum had shoved three servings of dinner into Jamie and brought out four thick pieces of cake, an outsider would never know that Jamie wasn’t there every night shooting the shit with Mako’s parents and ribbing Mako like the cunt he was.

“Mako, won't you let me give it a cut?” His mum asked.  “It's no life hiding your handsome face behind those bangs.” 

“Right you are, mum,” Jamie chimed in, a wicked grin on his face.  Mako wanted to come over the table and sock it off.  “I tell him all the time, ‘Mako, mate, you’ve got to let the ladies know what’s out there if you want a chance with ‘em!’ “

Mako snorted and rolled his eyes.  

“Punching me is mighty impressive,”. Jamie continued, shifting so that he could kick Mako under the table as he sucked icing off his fork.  “But they got to know the man behind the fist, mate,” Jamie said, grinning with chocolate in his teeth.

“Now, _Jamie_ ,” Mako’s dad said firmly.  “We’re glad you two seem to have made nice, but we don’t approve of fighting—especially if it gets you two in trouble at school.”

Jamie’s face dropped for barely a second before he was sitting up and steepling his fingers.  Mako nearly choked on his cake at how ridiculous Jamie looked trying to be serious.  If he wasn’t smiling and laughing, he was sneering and cutting. 

It was unnerving how foreign the expression was.  His mouth was pressed into a thin line and his crazy eyebrows were furrowed.

“Of course fighting at school is unacceptable,” Jamie said in words that definitely didn’t sound like anything that would ever leave his mouth.  “But we’re just boys.  Got our trouble to work out, yeah?”

“Work it out in words,” Mako’s mum said firmly.

“Or at the very least _after_ school,” Mako’s dad tacked on.

Jamie’s serious expression split into a grin.

“Darl’, don’t give them permission…” Mako’s mum said beneath her breath.

“They’re making nice now,” he pointed out.  “Haven’t had to pick Mako up from the principal in weeks.  Think we can let them have their scuffles.”

Mako had had a bite of cake raised to his mouth since the conversation had branched off.  He had forgotten it was there entirely.

“Scuffles, yeah,” Jamie nodded vigorously.  “Boys will be boys and all that, right, mate?”  Jamie kicked Mako beneath the table again and Mako kicked him back hard enough to make Jamie wince.

“Mako.”  His mum said firmly.

Mako dropped his fork and pushed away from the table.  “I’m done.  I’ll walk Jamie half-way.”

Jamie pouted across from him.  “Thought we were going to gab in yours bit more.  Maybe compare Chinese notes.  Giggle about girls.”  As he spoke, his face slowly eased from pout to grin in a cinematic feat of expression.

“ _No_.”  Mako said, putting as much feeling as he possibly could into the single word.

His parents weren’t as offended as he was, and his mother's brows had eased back up from their disapproving snarl.  She had the barest smile again.

She had always wanted him to have a friend.

“Aw, c’mon, I could use the help!  Chinese is hard, and Mary Jane Ash isn’t going to woo herself!”  Jamie said, resting his chin between his palms and looking at Mako with a soft and genuine expression that Mako never wanted to see again.  He was also pretty sure that Jamie might be offering him marijuana.  There wasn’t anyone named Mary Jane in their school.

“Chinese,” Mako said, jerking his head toward the stairs.  “That’s it.”  

Jamie shoved the last of his cake in his mouth, then reached across the table and stole the last few bites of Mako’s.

Mako scowled, but Jamie was already scarpering toward the stairs, so he merely clenched his fist and followed Jamie up to his room.

“Remember, lovie, no fighting ‘round the house,” Mako’s mum called after Mako.

Before Mako could answer, Jamie called down, “yes, mum!”

Mako took the stairs two at a time and tackled Jamie onto the bed once his door was closed.

Jamie let out a high, delighted laugh and shoved his bony elbow into Mako’s stomach.  Mako bore down harder and Jamie groaned.

“Mate, I ate too much, ‘m gonna hurl!” Jamie complained, jabbing Mako with his elbow again.

Mako grunted, but didn’t let him up, taking a handful of his greasy hair and dragging his head back so that he could give the prick’s throat a flick with his fingers.  Jamie cleared his throat a few times and his face kept hovering between a grin and an ill wince.  

“What happened to not wanting to owe anyone anything?” Mako asked, priming his finger for another flick.

“Hm?”  Jamie hummed, his eyes straining to the corner of his eyes to see Mako.  

He wasn’t even struggling anymore, his elbow was stationary and he was just grinning and watching Mako.  

He wasn’t fighting back.  This was dumb.   Mako flicked Jamie’s throat again, harder and to the side of his throat where it would burn more.

“You owe me half a piece of cake,” Mako told him.

“That was more like a quarter of a piece of cake, mate,” Jamie pointed out, his grin turning shit-eating again.  His eyes were tearing up a bit, and he kept swallowing like that would dull the pain, but he still wasn’t fighting back.

Mako sighed and released Jamie’s hair.  It wasn’t fun.  

Jamie was still grinning as Mako got off him.  He quickly made himself more comfortable, flopping around until he had a hand under his head and one leg bent.

Mako watched him, surprised that he didn't feel like his space was violently being invaded, not even when Jamie grabbed one of his plush toys and held it against his side.

“Oink, oink,” he said, squishing it against him a few times.

Mako wrinkled his nose and walked over to take the plush from him, but it felt like an act, it didn’t feel right and that scared him.  Being a cunt to Jamie should be second nature at all times. “Don’t fuck with my shit,” he said.

Jamie didn’t drop his sharp smirk, just reached for another plush.  Mako smacked his hand.

“Ow!” He yelped, shaking his hand.  “Holey dooley, I wasn’t doing nothing!”

“Mako!” his mum called up the stairs.

“Stop touching my shit.  Bad enough you think you can just invite yourself up and stay,” Mako said, low enough that his mum wouldn’t hear.

Jamie’s grin crumpled.  Maybe.  It happened so quickly and he recovered so smoothly that Mako wasn’t even sure it happened. He couldn’t have gotten to Jamie that easily, could he?  After over a year of fights and name calling, he had never seen that expression on Jamie before.  Not even when he was sitting alone.

“Welllllll,” Jamie said, a sing song quality to his tone as he drug the last syllable out.  “I mean, I _can…_ and I _did…_ ” he shrugged and squeezed the pig plush in his hand. “ _Oink_.”

Mako threw the plush in his hands at Jamie and beaned him in the face. He fell back cackling and whatever tension that had been in the room suddenly eased when a chuckle escaped Mako too.

“You actually want to do homework and talk about girls?” Mako asked, snorting at the last one.  It sounded so stupid.  Was that what guys with friends really did?

Jamie shrugged and hugged both of the plushes to his chest as he rolled over.  “Not really.  You?”

“I do have homework,” Mako said, shrugging.

“And you’re gonna do it?” Jamie asked, making a face.

Mako made a face back, then shrugged.  “I mean, I guess we could play video games or… whatever.”  He almost brought up that Jamie’s the one who wanted to stay again, but he didn’t.  Not because he cared about hurting Jamie’s feelings— _if that’s even what happened._  

“I got a couple joints in my bag,” Jamie offered.

Mako shook his head quickly.  “Fuck no, not in the house.”

Jamie laughed and sat up.  Mako felt his cheeks burn.  He wasn’t a pussy, he just didn’t want to get the drugs talk from his parents.  

“Maybe I _should_ just go,” Jamie said.

Mako shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck.  What had Jamie talked about downstairs?  “We can… talk about girls if you want.”

Jamie looked delighted, but Mako had a feeling that it wasn’t related to actually wanting to gab about chicks.

“Can we?” Jamie asked, clasping his hands together and looking like a fucking nut.

“Fuck you,” Mako said, finally moving forward to sit on the bed as well and shoving Jamie over to make room.

Jamie kept the two pigs with him and moved to lay back on the bed with them on his chest.  His fingers never stopped moving, kept petting the soft fabric.

Mako didn’t know if he’d ever seen Jamie so quiet.  He turned on the tv to fill the silence and then leaned over to fish his backpack up.

“Your parents are nice,” Jamie said when Mako started working on his maths homework.

Mako grunted in response and kept working.  He got the answer wrong and erased everything to start again.

“Surprised they aren’t more pissed seeing me ‘round,” Jamie continued.

Mako looked up halfway through his second attempt at the problem.  “Why?”

“ _Well_.” Jamie let go of one of the pigs to gesture and it rolled off his chest.  “You been getting in a lot of trouble ‘cause of me past few years.  Figured they kind of hated me.”

Mako rolled his eyes and went back to his maths.  “They don’t hate you.  Not like you were an actual threat,” he replied.

Jamie’s gesturing hand punched Mako’s thigh and he punched Jamie back, accidentally hitting him right in the hip bone and causing him to yelp and bolt upright.

“Boys!” his mum yelled from below.

“Fine, mum!” Mako yelled back.

Jamie punched him again and Mako returned it, giving him a glare.  Jamie smacked him with the back of his hand and his expression dared Mako to fight him.

“I just mean, it’s not like you pulled a knife on me or anything,” Mako said, then smacked Jamie.

“I could,” Jamie said defensively.

Mako stopped working again and looked up to see Jamie with furrowed brows and a frown.

Mako couldn’t help but laugh at how earnest he looked.  “I don’t _want_ you to shank me, you cunt.”

“I’ve beat on you pretty good,” Jamie pointed out, sitting up on his elbow and looking so fucking concerned that Mako’s parents didn’t seem threatened by him being there.

Mako snorted and shoved him away, his whole hand nearly covering Jamie’s face.  “ ‘S all shit I can recover from.” Mako shrugged. “You want them to hate you?  We can swing that by getting in a brawl up here.  Mum would raise hell and never let you back in.”

Jamie shook his head, then shrugged.  “Not that, I just… figured they already did when you invited me.  Didn’t think dinner would be so nice.  Thought it would be more lectures and shit.”

Mako let out a short huff of a laugh and went back to his homework now that he was less worried about Jamie trying to shank him at school.

“They know we know fighting’s wrong or whatever,” Mako explained as he came to the wrong answer again. “Fuck.”  He closed the book and tossed it on the floor before lying back on the bed again.

“Problem?” Jamie asked.

Mako made a noise in the back of his throat in response.  

Jamie was silent enough that Mako turned his head.  He looked like he wanted to say something.

“ _What_?”  Mako asked.

Instead of saying anything, Jamie huffed and sat up.  He wriggled his way off the bed and picked up Mako’s book.

Mako sat back up and watched him open the book to the loose leaf paper stuck in it.  He squinted at the paper for a bit, then started erasing numbers and entire sections alike.

Mako didn’t care because it was all wrong anyway, but the whole basis of his weird _thing_  with Jamie was based on being contrary and antagonistic.  He reached down and grabbed the paper, fishing it up to look at what Jamie had been writing.

He had a bunch of shit ready to go—calling Jamie a nerd, accusing him of trying to sabotage his grades, telling him he should do his own work—but Jamie was… being damn helpful.  Mako had misinterpreted part of the formula and put a 6 where a 3r went early on in the problem.

“Shit, you’re good at math?” Mako asked, pretty sure he looked as dumbfounded as he felt.

“Math and science,” Jamie replied.  “And shop.  Not _great_ at shop, just really fucking like it.”

Mako huffed and handed the paper back.  “Alright, now fucking show me how you did that,” he said, shifting to lay on his stomach and scooting over so that he could watch over Jamie’s shoulder.

Jamie laughed and for the first time since Mako had turned around in the lunchroom and met the most annoying person God could possibly conceive, it didn’t sound _annoying as shit_.  It was actually kind of _nice._

“Right, so you gotta pay attention to what the word problem calls shit.  It’s really easy to mix up these two values,” Jamie motioned with the pencil as he went, explaining the whole problem and the way that Mako had gone wrong.

Mako barely absorbed half of it because he was too fucking stunned.

Jamie was smart.

Jamie was _actually really smart_.

“This is for the cake,” Jamie said, after a few explanations as he worked the problems from the book.  “And dinner,” He tacked on.

Mako was startled from just staring at the paper.  

“Yeah,” he nodded.  “Sure.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Thyme for betaing and an extra special thanks to Cancel, Skadi, Shanks and Muppet for supporting me <3

Mako got an A on the maths assignment Jamie did for him while Jamie had a showdown with the teacher over not turning his in.  
  
Mako stared at the back of his head until he decided to flick a note at him.  He missed and quickly acted like he was paying attention.  They had been separated all the way across the room after the first week of class together.  A smart move on the teacher’s part, but it made bugging Jamie during class difficult.  
  
Jamie used one of his long, spindly legs to fish the note out from the middle of the floor when the teacher’s back was turned and he unfolded it behind the cover of his textbook, which was open, but upside down.  The teacher had learned which battles she could win a long time ago.  He would have the book open but there was no guarantee he was going to even fein paying attention to it.  There was a nearly guaranteed chance that he would do everything to make sure she knew he wasn’t, really.

_Why didn’t you turn it in? You literally knew all the answers._

Jamie deliberately crumpled up the note and tossed it across the room.  It hit the teacher’s desk and then skated into the bin next to it.  A few classmates laughed at his apparent skill and Mako wondered if it was just dumb luck.  
  
“Fawkes, stop being disruptive!”  
  
“Ma’am, yes, ma’am,” he said, then he flipped Mako off when she turned around again.

Mako rolled his eyes and went back to trying to puzzle out what the fuck the teacher was going on about.  A formula or something.  It was a lot harder when he was also trying to figure out what the fuck was wrong with Jamie at the same time.

Mako thought dinner had gone well, and they even had a few laughs when Mako walked him halfway back to the Smiths.  Jamie had seemed nearly friendly when they parted.

Less than twelve hours later, he looked sullen and wasn’t paying attention, but Mako somehow knew that Jamie was going to be able to complete the assignment with ease again.  Mako also knew _he_ wasn’t going to be able to do the homework on his own, but if Jamie was being a goddamned douche, he wasn’t about to ask for help.  Maybe he would figure out his shit by lunchtime.  Or the time they graduate.

Mako didn’t see Jamie at lunch, and it got under his skin to know that he was probably sitting somewhere restricted and not eating.  He did see the group that Jamie used to sit with, though.  He walked over and loomed above the de facto leader until the rest of the table appeared uncomfortable and the much smaller kid looked up at him.

“What the fuck happened between you guys and Fawkes?” Mako asked.

The leader snorted and turned back to make sure he had the support of his friends, but none of them would meet his eyes.  His laugh died in his throat and he turned back around to face Mako with a shrug.  “Nothing happened, we just asked him a question and he stopped hanging out with us,” the guy said, his grin oily.  Mako wouldn’t trust anything that came out of this shitheel’s mouth.

“Yeah? That sounds like bullshit,” Mako said, narrowing his eyes.

“What are you going to do if I don’t tell you?” he asked, snorting.  “You’re not going to do jack shit.  Just like that pathetic twat, you’re going to turn around and—“

Mako’s fist broke the kid’s nose.

When Mako and Jamie fought, no one ever talked about suspensions or expulsion.  Mako sat with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.  He had been in the principal’s office for two hours listening to his parents, the parents of the kid he’d punched, and the school officials talking about the proper punishment for him.  

Why had he even punched him? The guy hadn’t done anything to Mako except annoy him by lying and acting like a smug twat.  A more pressing question was why hadn’t _Jamie_ punched that douche?  The twiggy blonde asshole always jumped at the drop of a pin to brawl with Mako ended up breaking up a friendship and there hadn’t been any fists involved? Something smelled shitty.

Mako was suspended until the following week and his mum roped him into working at the asshole’s father’s restaurant for two weeks to pay for the broken nose.  He was also grounded and didn’t even get to leave the house to retrieve his assignments from school.  His mother brought them home and then supervised him completing them.  He didn’t have a phone or a computer.  He slept and played with his plush pigs for hours.

He was in the process of having tea with a collection of pigs when he heard a sharp cackle outside his window.  Mako glanced at the window and rolled his eyes when he saw Jamie on the other side of the glass he dragged one of his plush toys closer to rest his chin on and sulk, hoping that if he ignored him hard enough, Jamie would go away.  He usually didn’t care about leaving the house, but he was fucking miserable and he was starting to blame Jamie.

He wasn’t sure what exactly he thought Jamie did, but it was his fault.

A squeaking and cursing preceded the shuffle of the window opening.  Mako looked over just in time to see Jamie flop through the window and onto the floor with a slew of cursing.  Mako sat up and threw a plush at him with a sharp, “shh!” to get him to shut up.

“Mako, you right?” Mum called up the stairs.  

“I’m right,” he called back down.  Jamie threw the plush pig back at him and Mako beaned him in the face with it before raising his finger to his lips and walking over to shut the door.

“What the fuck do you want?” Mako asked, keeping his voice low, even after he heard his mum move further into the house.

“Hadn’t seen you ‘round and heard you got suspended.  Rough luck,” Jamie said, shifting awkwardly.

Mako snorted and grabbed one of his animals to hold.

Jamie chewed on his lip a bit before scooting closer and grabbing one of the other tea time animals.  “You have tea with your stuffies often?”

“Don’t have a phone or computer.  Can’t leave the house.”  Mako shrugged and picked at a loose thread.  “Can’t do much else,” Mako said.

Jamie let out a surprisingly soft cackle and made the piggy in his lap dance.  “Most blokes fill the space with somethin’ else, but I guess whatever works, yeah?”

Mako rolled his eyes and ran his thumb across the soft fur of the plush.  “You come all this way to tell me I should masutrbate more?” he asked.

Jamie’s face went red and he choked on his words for a second before letting out a shrill giggle and shaking his head.  “Nope,” he paused to titter and then took a deep breath.  “Thanks for punching that asshole,” he finally got out, holding the plush tightly to his chest, long fingers playing with the soft fabric in a mirror of Mako’s petting.

Mako shifted uncomfortably.  “Why did you stop hanging out with them?” he asked.

It was Jamie’s turn to shrug.  His shoulders stayed hunched around his ears and his piggy petting intensified.  “Said something shitty about me,” he said.

“ _What_?  I say shitty stuff about you all the goddamned time and you just came to my house because I wasn’t at school for a few days,” Mako pointed out, frowning.  “I can’t fucking get rid of you.”

Jamie glared at him for that and his hand tightened around the piggy he was petting.  “Yeah, but you don’t do it just to be shit.  You don’t act like my friend for a year and then spread a rumor about me mum.”

Mako doubted that there was an interesting rumor to be had about the Smiths.  “What could they possibly say about Mrs. Smith—“

“She’s _not_ me mum,” Jamie snapped.

“Oh.”  Mako had never seen Jamie look so pissed off.  “Eh… sorry?”

Jamie’s tense expression melted.  His curled lip smoothed into a frown and his thick eyebrows raise back up, no longer obscuring his wide, strangely light brown eyes.  “They said my real mum did drugs when she was pregnant with me, and that’s why I’m always jittery and pick fights,” he said.

Mako huffed.  “You know they don’t know what the fuck they’re talking about, right?” 

Jamie shrugged and finally broke his eye contact with Mako, dropping his cheek down onto his stuffed pig.  “Doesn’t give ‘em a right to spout off about her.”

“Yeah, surprised _you_ didn’t punch him,” Mako admitted.

Jamie shrugged.  “I knew he couldn’t take a punch.”

Mako snorted and rolled his eyes.

Jamie brought his head back up and reached out to smack Mako’s knee.  “Hey, from what I hear, he got his nose broken and didn’t do a damned thing to retaliate, yeah?  You can’t punch someone who won’t fight back. They’ll just think you’re a volatile asshole who’s willing to knock a poor, defenseless bloke out.”

“Sure,” Mako said.  That was just about what happened to him.

“Besides… we’d had a few good times.” Jamie shrugged and grabbed another pig to play with, butting the two plushies’ heads together.  

Mako laughed and his mum called up again.  “Readin’ a book!” he called back before lowering his voice.  “Who knew you were a sentimental piece of shit.”

Jamie looked surprised for a second before laughing and curling up on his side with the piggies pressed against his chest.  “Yeah that’s me.  Real sentimental type.  Nah, really, if he’s not going to punch back, there’s no point in punching him in the first place.”

Mako smirked and lay back on the floor with his piggy on his stomach.  They lay in silence with their piggies for a bit before Mako spoke again, “why didn’t you do that assignment?” he asked.

He can hear Jamie shifting nervously. “ ‘Cause there’s no point trying for grades,” he said.  “I figure I’m gonna get shipped off any day now, no point in making an effort.”

Mako rolled around so that he was lying parallel to Jamie and frowned across the space between them.  “What do you mean ‘shipped off’?” 

Jamie shrugged.  “I never stay with one family for more than a year.  Think the shortest time was a few days… the Smiths are going to get tired of putting up with me and I’ll get tossed back into the system,” he said.  “ ‘S Just a matter of time.”

Mako stared at Jamie until he ducked his head and rolled over to stare at the ceiling.  “You know you’ve been here for about a year and a half already, right?”

Jamie chewed on his lip and shrugged.  Mako wondered if his shoulders were getting tired.  He’d shrugged so often since he climbed through Mako’s window, it made Mako wonder if it was just a nervous tic.  The subject was definitely uncomfortable.

“And the Smiths seem… real nice, mate.  If it means anything, I don’t think they’re going to send you away.  Especially if you start making grades,” he said.  “I’ll even fight you less if it help.”

“Don’t you dare!” Jamie squawked.

Footsteps on Mako’s stairs made them both freeze and then Mako shoved Jamie toward his bed.  Jamie slid under the frame easily and Mako tried to look casual when his mum opened the door and walked in.  

“Hey... Mum...” Mako said, trying to will his voice to sound normal.

“Mako, what are you doing up here?” she asked firmly.

“Nothin’!” he said, and it didn’t sound convincing to him either.  His mum crossed her arms.  “I’m playing piggies.”

“Thought you were reading,” she said.

“I’m… reading… to them…” Mako replied, feeling like he was falling into a pit.  He didn’t lie to his parents often, mostly because he never needed to.  He was upfront about his fights with Jamie and he didn’t really do anything else that they disapproved of, really.

His mum stared him down with a raised brow and Mako stared back until he heard shuffling noises under his bed and Jamie came out the other side.  “ ‘Lo, Mum,” he said, waving at her from the floor.

“Mako is grounded, Jamie,” she told him, though Mako would swear that she looked a little amused underneath her disapproval.

“Really? He never said anything—“ Jamie stopped speaking and fell over laughing when Mako threw a stuffed toy at Jamie’s face.  He was going to be in trouble, but Mako still found himself smiling a little.  

“Sorry, Mum… he just broke in and we started talking,” Mako told his mum when her attention turned back to him, disapproving look back in place.

“Yeah, it’s not Mako’s fault.  I invited myself in and we started talking about his fight.  Kinda blame myself, really.  He was just sticking up for me, Mum,” Jamie said, shifting to sit up and crossing his legs.

“Sticking up for you?” Mako’s mum raised her brow.  Mako sighed and scratched his head.  “Mako, you told me you ‘just _felt like’_ punching him.”

Mako shrugged.  “I did,” he said.

Mako’s mum sighed and rested her hands on her hips.  “Jamie, would you like to stay for dinner?” she asked, when it was clear that Mako wasn’t going to explain himself.

Mako groaned and his mum shushed him.

“Love to, Mum,” Jamie said with a wide grin.

“Ready in an hour.  Don’t forget to wash up,” she said before turning to leave.

“Yes ma’am!” Jamie said, saluting smartly.

As soon as she was out of the room, Mako threw every plush he still had with him at Jamie and then launched himself across the room to follow up with a fist that was entirely too half-hearted to hurt.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Skadi asked for more Flux for her June fic :)
> 
> Enjoy!

_Mum: Is Jamie coming over for dinner again?_

_Mako: idk_

_Mum: Well find out.  Between the two of you your father and I are lucky we didn’t starve the past two nights._

Mako sighs at the text and rolls his eyes.  As if he and Jamie could possibly eat more than his mum cooks.

Mako walks through the hall, head down and large fingers carefully pecking out something sarcastic when a hand grabs him and a reedy, cracking voice says, “Oi, Mako—“ 

He grabs back and shoves, slamming Jamie into a line of lockers, his hand fisted in the front of the other boy’s t-shirt. Jamie laughs and Mako shoves harder out of habit before he remembers that they have had two dinners together in just as many nights.  They’re nearly friendly.

He releases Jamie and huffs at him.  “What?” he asks.

Jamie’s long, lean arm loops over Mako’s shoulders and Mako ducks away from it just as quickly as it settles into place.  What the fuck?  Jamie just laughs and gives him a light punch in the arm before shoving his hands in his pockets.

“Easy, mate. Just wanted to make sure you didn’t get into trouble over me visit last night,” Jamie tells him.

Mako snorts and starts walking again.  “Why would I?”

“You were grounded and I’m a fuck up looking for a free meal,” Jamie points out.

“Well I’m not any _less_ grounded,” Mako tells him.  “But I didn’t get yelled at when I got home or anything like that.”

Jamie makes a soft noise in his throat.  Mako thinks it’s a little surprise mixed with doubt.  “Well the Smiths beat the guts out of me,” he says, his voice deceivingly pleasant.

“Really?” Mako only half doubts him—there’s a lot of unfounded rumors he’s heard about the foster family.  None of them from reputable sources and most likely bullshit.  

“Nah.” Jamie laughs and shakes his head.  “They’re the most pleasant fucking people I’ve ever met.  It pisses me off how understanding and chill they are,” he says, making a disgusted face. 

Mako sighs and shoves his elbow into Jamie’s side.  “Don’t say shit like that if it isn’t true,” he tells him.  “Rumors like that are always going around about the F—Smiths. And a few of the other foster families at other schools.”

“Well the other families are probably true,” Jamie says with a shrug.  “The Smiths would cut their own hands off before they made a fist with ‘em, though.”

“They sound nice.”

Jamie makes an affirmative noise and keeps walking with Mako past his own classroom.  

“You just passed your classroom,” Mako points out.

“Yeah, I’m walkin’ and talkin’.  Classroom will still be there when I decide to go to it.”

Mako shrugs.  “Well I’m about to get to mine,” he says, feeling eyes on them and really, really wishing Jamie would fuck off so he can fade into the background. There’s a restlessness to the hallways, and an extra buffer of space around them, like a fight is expected any moment.

“Hey, wait, why do you know my schedule?” Jamie asks as Mako opens the door to his second period.  

“Uh…” honestly, he had just noticed because Jamie is so loud and obnoxious that it was impossible not to know where he was at any given time.  It’s definitely not weird.  “So I know where you are in case I want to kick your ass.”

Jamie laughs and slugs Mako in the arm again.  Softly again.

Mako punches him back, not really sure what’s going on.  Jamie stumbles from it, but he just grins and punches Mako back, harder than the first time.  The hallway holds its breath and Mako wants Jamie to fuck off all the way across the school. Leave him alone, he doesn’t want this attention.

“Right, well, I’m not going to follow you into science,” Jamie says before turning on his heel and walking off.

Mako watches him leave, not at all sure how he feels about the interaction that just took place.  Aside from the staring throng, it had been alright—nearly friendly.  Mako suddenly understands Jamie’s disgruntled face when he talks about the Smiths.  Perfectly lovely.  Unexpected.  Weird.

——

“Mind if I sit here?”  Jamie folds his long legs under the table and sits his bony ass down across from Mako before the question is even out of his mouth.  

Mako looks up from his maths and raises a brow at him.  “I mind,” he says before taking a bite of lunch and then looking back down at the stupid formulas he doesn’t understand.

“Deal with it,” Jamie replies, propping his chin on his hands and watching Mako roll his eyes at his homework.  

“If you’re going to sit here, look over there.”  Mako gestures with his pencil in a random direction, then hesitantly plugs in the numbers from a word problem into the formula.

“That’s wrong,” Jamie tells him, a pencil twirling between his thin fingers as he watches Mako.

“Fuck off, I don’t have time for your bullshit.  This is due next,” Mako snaps and grabs for the pencil.

“The three and the six need to be switched,” Jamie insists, pulling back and acting like he didn’t hear a word Mako just said.  “That way when you divide, you get a whole number instead of a fraction and then the rest of the formula you have... right.  Yep, right.”

“How can you possibly know that?” Mako asks, letting his hand drop to the table heavily and pointing at Jamie.  “You don’t even do the homework.”

Jamie grins and winks.  “That you know of.”

Mako stares at Jamie incredulously.  “Are you fucking doing this bullshit and then not turning it in?” he asks.

Jamie shrugs and crosses his arms on the table.  He seems to shrink a bit and Mako shakes his head.

“Fawkes, you’re such a goddamned nerd,” he says.

Jamie grins and shrugs, busting back out of his admittedly thin shell and twirling the pencil again. “Yeah, guess.”

There are eyes on them again.  

Mako looks back down at his homework and tries to ignore them. He switches the three and the six, but he can’t focus enough to put together an answer.  He forgets how to multiply, add and divide and just really wants Jamie to leave.  

He’s talking.  He’s always talking.  And now he’s writing on a spare piece of paper.  Then he stops talking and writing and stares at Mako expectantly.  

Mako looks up from what he’s doing and furrows his brow.  “What?” he asks.  

Jamie laughs and there’s a bit of a nervous edge to it.  “I just babbled for five minutes to work my way around asking if you wanted to hang out again,” he says.  “Least you could do is listen.”

Mako’s brows drop further and he thinks something might short circuit as he works through processing what he just heard.  Jamie wants to hang out.  With him.  And it doesn’t sound like his motivation is to annoy the shit out of him.  Impossible.

“Pass,” Mako says before looking back down at his homework.  Okay.  Six squared is thirty-six...  Right.  Now what?

“What?!” Jamie cries, kicking Mako beneath the table.  “It’s a really cool place, though!  I got plenty of booze and weed, and no one will see us on the roof if—“

Mako slams his pencil down and kicks back.  “I said fucking _pass_ ,” he snaps.  There are eyes watching them.  Jamie brings so much attention to himself all the goddamned time.  

Jamie looks hurt for a second before he sneers and kicks Mako back hard enough to _really_ sting.  “Guess I was fucking wrong about you, then.  You like to play with people just as much as everyone else.”

Mako frowns and goes to kick back, but Jamie jerks his legs up and shoves away from the table so that Mako just ends up kicking the bench.  “Ow, fuck!” he growls, shaking his leg.

“Serves you right,” Jamie snaps before walking away.

Mako stands, but doesn’t go after him.  What the fuck was all that? He glances around and… no one’s watching.  There are like three people at the closest one of the twenty tables focused on him.  

Mako sighs and looks back down at his homework.  Fuck.  Well, he didn’t want to be friends with Jamie anyway.  

He doesn’t understand anything past the problem he just did, so he just shuts his book and tries to finish eating his lunch.  He’s too frustrated to keep trying, both from Jamie’s energy and the way he acts like they’re mates now— Mako just tolerated him briefly for a few days.  That doesn’t mean _anything._

He has maybe three questions answered correctly.  Probably.   So that’s at least a 30%.  Good enough for today.  His phone buzzes and he pulls it out after checking to make sure no teachers are around.

_Mum: Jamie?_

_Mako: no_

_Mum: Make sure you tell him he’s always welcome!_

Mako snorts and shoves his phone back in his pocket.  

——

Mako stretches out on his bed and stares at his maths homework.  It’s… worse than before.  The only problem he got right was the one Jamie helped him with and the new homework _builds_ on what they learned the previous day, so… 

Mako lays his head down in frustration and closes his eyes.  He’s fucked.  He’s totally fucked.  Fuck.

None of his piggies are helpful.  He’s got them clustered around for moral support, but their cute little faces aren’t going to help him understand whether getting a square root with decimals will completely fuck up his quadratic equation or if that’s how it’s supposed to be.  He’s tried plugging the numbers in every single way possible and it’s still coming up shitty and he’s giving up.  He’s going to drop out of school and work for a mechanic.  

Dad always says that experience is better than education.

Mako doesn’t bother raising his head at the knock on his bedroom door.  “What?” he grunts unhappily.

Mum opens his door and steps up into the room with a concerned look.  She looks around before crossing her arms.  Shit, was it messy? He honestly hadn’t giving it the thought—

“Jamie’s not hiding up here, is he?” she asks.

Mako furrows his brows and reluctantly pushes himself up to sit on his bed.  “No.  Why?” He doesn’t care, he just knows she won’t leave unless he shows some level of interest.

“The Smiths called.  He didn’t come home after school,” she says.  “They were hoping that he tagged along with you.  Do you know where he is?” 

Mako shrugs and shakes his head.  “He’s probably fine,” he says as he lies back down and picks his pencil back up.

Mum’s mouth purses and Mako tries to ignore it.  “ _Mako Rutledge_ , I know I raised you better than this.”

“ _What_?” Mako groans.  “We were barely civil for two days.  We’re not even really friends!” he insists.

Mum’s arms are crossed.  

Mako stares her down for barely a second before he sighs and rolls off of his bed.  “What do you expect me to do? Walk the streets until I find him?  At night?  I’m grounded, so I don’t even have my phone.”

Mum scoffs and raises a brow at him.  “Don’t think I don’t know about you sneaking out every now and then past curfew.  You’re a clever boy, love, but you’re not quiet by any means. I’ll leave your phone on the table in case you need a pick up.”

Mako shoves his hands in his pockets and Mum smiles as she leaves.  Sure, go find Jamie, tell him to get his ass home.  He’s not a babysitter.  He didn’t sign up for this.  Mako glances around his room and grabs a flashlight and his headphones before flipping his maths closed and heading for the stairs with a scowl.  He stops at the door and looks back at his book before walking over and pulling out the myriad of papers stuffed into his spiral.  He flips through until he sees spidery, blocky scrawl detailing a list of what look like directions.  The first of which is:

_Turn left 3 times ;)_

If Jamie’s not at the end of this list, Mako hopes he’s dead.  And if he isn't, he’s going to kill him himself.  Right after he helps him with his fucking homework.


End file.
